In November 2020, NABERS launched an exciting pilot project in NSW to ramp up new customer engagement by offering free NABERS Energy and Carbon Neutral ratings for a limited time.
The project formed part of a larger national push to bring more Australians on board to help accelerate the critical reduction of our built environment’s emissions to net zero, with a specific focus on energy efficiency.
Funded by the NSW Government, the offer included waiving both the NABERS rating certification fee and providing a significant financial contribution towards the associated Assessor fees for NSW buildings in specific sectors.
We were really excited to roll out this project because this is the first time that we’ve been able to offer financial support to customers supported by the NSW Government. The price for a NABERS rating can sometimes present a hurdle for building owners. The intention of the offer is to empower customers and businesses to establish new energy efficiency routines by underwriting the cost of their first rating, and provide an avenue to other rating incentives and opportunities.
- Magali Wardle, Head of Policy and Partnerships, NABERS
The pilot has seen considerable uptake and committed funding to 55 buildings across all eligible building sectors. A breakdown of buildings can be found below:
- 3 Carbon Neutral offices
- 25 office tenancies, including 2 Co-Assess ratings
- 12 apartments
- 9 shopping centres
- 5 hotels
- 1 data centre
This funding also helped support 23 NABERS customers rate their buildings and provided business for 13 different assessor companies. Due to popularity of the pilot, NABERS was able to extend the budget by an additional $20,000, making the total available budget $120,000.
In light of the pilot’s success, NABERS hopes more rounds may be considered in the future, with aspirations to expand the pilot nationwide. Not only does the project have huge emissions saving potential, but also provides financial access for customers to rate their buildings, all while boosting business for NABERS Assessors.
This offer targeted two key customer types:
- Energy Starters - For buildings that are just getting started and have not rated with NABERS Energy before.
- Carbon Neutral Leaders - For buildings that are considering NABERS Carbon Neutral and have not achieved certification before (offer excludes the cost of carbon offsets).
Not in NSW? NABERS is offering fee-free ratings until 30 June 2021
NABERS is currently offering customers fee-free ratings for several building types until the end of June 2021. Building owners will now only need to pay the Assessor fees and can combine multiple ratings to save on these fees. Click here for more information.
Whether you are new to measuring and managing with NABERS or have been rating for a while and are looking to increase your ambition, NABERS can help chart your path on your sustainability journey to operating net zero emissions buildings.